BRSSD holds parent forum on smartphone impacts and plans policy input ahead of state deadline

Belmont-Redwood Shores School District (BRSSD) staff led a virtual parent session on smartphone use, youth mental health and family strategies, and said the district will collect parent and student input before drafting a districtwide phone-use policy to satisfy a new state requirement.

K. Savia, a BRSSD staff member who led the session, told attendees that "by January 2026, every school district needs to have a policy in place limiting the use of, phones on campuses," and that the district will hold an input session in March and collect additional comments before a policy is drafted. She said site-level phone restrictions already exist at the district's elementary and middle schools and that the forthcoming district policy will likely be similar to those site policies.

The session covered research linking social-media adoption beginning around 2010–2015 to rising rates of adolescent anxiety and…